Swift
The Herald, Glasgow *** review
An hour in the company of Jonathan Swift must have been a profoundly disturbing experience.
Rattling cages was his business, and he did it with devastating and and often savage satire.
Disturbing, yes, especially when the Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, was in misanthropic mode - which he not infrequently was - but also entertaining and even hilarious. The melancholic churchman was a genius.
Swift was a disappointed man; he made too many enemies to have the dazzling career in the Church which he desired. Quite how he expected preferment after lampooning his fellow clergy is not clear. Yet the humanity of the man shows through in his brilliant writings - not just in the incomparable Gulliver's Travels, but in his poetry and his pamphlets. Always a spokesman for the underprivileged, it is no wonder that the outspoken dean was a hero to Dublin's poor.
Jeffrey Mayhew's one-man show is a delight. His Swift is perhaps less abrasive than the real man was, but if you're looking for a Fringe show performed by a highcalibre character actor, this may be just right for you.
Ron Ferguson, 16 August 2005
Reproduced with the permission of The Herald, Glasgow © Newsquest (Herald & Times) Ltd.